Sunday, June 5, 2011

This post is in response to a recent newspaper article about the upcoming So Cal Jamboree, which featured, as it's "artwork" a hideous picture of two toothless rednecks, along with the caption "Inbreeding". Sure, we all may have a few toothless rednecks in our history, but they are OUR toothless rednecks, and they are OUR strange aunts and uncles, and OUR quirky parents or grandparents. The face of genealogy is OUR family. The true face of genealogy is the representation in a photograph of the love, patience and determination that is FAMILY. *That* is the face of genealogy.

Okay, so the title may be a stretch, but I can't help hearing tune from "Annie Get Your Gun" playing in my head.

I just installed an app for the Ipad that really expands the capabilities of the Ipad. The Splashtop application was $2.99 for the ipad, and free to download on your PC, Mac or laptop. Once installed and running, with your laptop or PC on, plus an internet connection, you can make your Ipad actually operate as if it were your PC. You can open files, make changes, save, create new documents in any program that you have on your PC right from your Ipad, as if you were on your PC. As their webpage says (http://www.splashtop.com), "With Splashtop® Remote Desktop, you can fully access and control your PC in any way imaginable."

Accessing the program actually makes your PC desktop screen appear on your Ipad, and you just go from there. You can work in any of your genealogy programs, like Legacy, RootsMagic, PAF, etc. You can open and work in Word, Excel, and even play games you have on your PC - It will even run Flash programs (yep, that means Facebook games like Farm Town, etc!) Heck, you can even run Second Life on your Ipad using this.

If you want to transfer files from your PC to your Ipad, using Splashtop in association with your Dropbox is the way to go. Open Splashtop to access your PC. Put the files you want to transfer into your PC Dropbox. Open Dropbox on your Ipad, open the file you want, then save it to your Ipad. Voila! No cables, no syncing.

It's really easy to use, and really extends the limitations of the Ipad.